_Myself (leading up deliberately to the test question):_ "There's one thing I envy the natives of this happy island. What a wonderful show of wild flowers they have! Do they make good grazing?" _Mr. Rendall (again drily_): "If one happens to have ruminant tastes, I believe they are edible." _Miss Rendall (brightly, but evidently unkindly):_ "Mr. Merton was probably thinking chiefly of the ruminant natives." _Myself (keeping sternly to the point):_ "I was thinking chiefly of sheep." _(With a direct and steady look at the laird.)_ "Are there many sheep on this island?" _Mr. Rendall (quite calmly):_ "A good many. Are you anxious for statistics?" _Myself (concealing my disappointment under a brave smile):_ "Oh no. Please don't mistake me for an intelligent enquirer." I turned the brave smile on to Miss Rendall. She smiled back very slightly. In her face I seemed to read a trace of scepticism; as if she did not quite agree with my modest estimate of myself, but at the same time thought none the better of me. I would have given a good deal to know exactly what was in her mind. Did she suspect something? And if so, what? I had one more shot. It was an inspiration which came to me at the end of lunch when my host offered me a cigar. "Matches?" he observed, pushing a box towards me. Again I looked at him hard and asked, "Have you such a thing as a _wax_ match?" His eyebrows rose slightly. "If you prefer to light a cigar with a wax match I daresay I can find one." "If Mr. Merton doesn't mind waiting for half an hour perhaps I might discover a box in the store room," said Miss Rendall, and she added demurely, "beside the champagne." My only consolation was that I was making an idiot of myself in a good cause. VIII SUNDAY I said good-night early that evening and did a heap of thinking in my bed-room. Nothing that seems to me now to be worth recording had been said or done since luncheon. I went for a solitary walk in the afternoon, as much to carry out the part of one with some business in the isle as for any other reason. It is true I actually did do some business in the way of accosting a few inhabitants and trying tactfully to convey a suspicious impression. None of them, however, had seemed in the least likely to belong to the gang I was after, and the sheep and wax match conundrums had left them cold. I was the less concerned at this since I had realised that the day was Saturday. To-morrow in church I meant to take stock of the islanders--and give them a chance of taking stock of me. That night my thoughts ran chiefly on my host and hostess. I had learnt a few more facts about them and these I now put together to see what picture they suggested. In the first place, the Rendalls were an ancient family in these parts and had owned their property for some centuries. As all my prejudices ran in favour of old families, old port, and old furniture, this was so far reassuring.